Bright Eyes in Subtle Variations of Blue
by StarWarrior72
Summary: Vader and Luke are stranded on a jungle planet with no way to signal for help.


My first emotion, upon waking up, was something akin to alarm. I felt rather vulnerable, naked, almost. The second was confusion, what could possibly be caressing my scalp, covered as it was by my helmet? My third feeling was a flash of comprehension, followed by more confusion. I felt naked because somehow I had lost my armour, which also explained how something could be stroking my head. But what or who would be doing that?

Slowly, warily, I allowed my eyes to open a crack.

"It's all right, Father. It's just me." My son smiled weakly down at me, and I became aware that my head rested in his lap.

Memories flooded back. We were trapped on this inhospitable planet, awaiting saviour by our allies. Stranded as we were, we had reluctantly agreed to a truce. After all, we had different skills, and we both admitted that, to survive, we would need one another's help. I felt rather ashamed that in this situation, my own skill was nothing more than luck. The rasping breathing sounds my suit made, and the aura the Dark Side cast around me, were sure to discourage any wild animals looking for food. Luke, on the other hand, had a real skill. He had proven a remarkable supplier, catching birds in his bare hands and knowing instantly whether plants had any potential to harm if eaten.

But those skills would be lost if he was as tired as he looked.

"Why are you not asleep?" I asked slowly, testing out my voice. It was odd, after all this time, to hear my own, natural sounds, not those of a machine. As I spoke, I suddenly wondered why I could breathe at all.

As though Luke had heard my unanswered question, he said, "I had this oxygen mask ready for you. I-if you're uncomfortable, I was very careful with your armour and I can help you put it back on. I just wanted to see your face, and you always change the subject when I ask, so when I saw you asleep I wondered if I could take of your mask without waking you-."

"You are babbling, child." I informed him in my old voice.

"Yeah, yeah I am. Sorry." Luke ran his hands through his hair, making it stand wildly on end. "So when I saw your face I, uh, knew that I could keep you alive and maybe heal you. I hate seeing you in your suit; it makes you seem so inhuman. When I noticed that you were wearing a jumpsuit underneath, it just felt right to keep pulling the armour off. And, uh, then I just left it all off while I tried to heal you. You look much better now, do you feel any better?" He asked hopefully.

I nodded slowly. I suppose Luke's proficiency with plants extended into the healing herbs the planet must possess. But again, I had to ask why he wasn't asleep. "What were you doing awake before me at all?"

Luke looked away and started fidgeting with the strap on one of his boots. "I had a bad dream. I've been awake all night. I knew I couldn't sleep after I woke up from that. So I've been trying to heal you instead. Really, you look healthier."

_A bad dream. He had a nightmare, and he knew he wouldn't sleep after it._ I wasn't sure whether or not I should ask about the dream, but Luke looked decidedly edgy about the topic. Something about the way he hadn't used the word "nightmare" seemed distinctly childish.

I lay still, wondering what to say to Luke. He waited for a few minutes before slowly his caresses restarted. His hand moved along the longest, ugliest scar on my head and I flinched slightly. It didn't hurt, exactly, it was just so long since anyone had touched it that I was ready for the pain it would have caused if he'd touched it back when the wound was fresh.

Luke pulled back sharply, "Did I hurt you?"

"No." I answered.

He nodded and returned to his tending.

"You're exhausted."

"I can't sleep. I told you. I really don't want to live that nightmare again." He shook his head slowly.

"If you don't sleep, neither one of us will live much longer." As I spoke it, I realized that, in trying to make me a more human, fatherly figure for him, Luke had stripped me of my ability to protect us.

"I know." He nodded. I had no idea whether he was responding to my spoken comment or my revelation. "It's been so long, though. I'm starting to doubt that anyone's looking for us. I'm not sure we're going to survive this anymore. I think I'm going to die, for the first time in my life, and last night I was so scared that everything about the planet, and the whole galaxy, seemed so dangerous. I was honestly afraid we wouldn't survive the night. That was a part of why I took off your mask. I thought any moment something would come along and kill us. I was desperate to see your face before I died, though. I was desperate." He repeated.

"Why didn't you wake me?" I asked.

Luke shrugged and didn't answer. Through the Force, I felt a wash of varying and often contrasting emotions from him. Underlying reasons, the traces of some so faint that I was unsure if even he knew of them, swamped me, spinning my galaxy into confusion. I could feel things that made sense, like a small fear that I would act irrationally if he were to wake me up, but there was also a little swell of protectiveness.

"Answer me."

"You need sleep too. I thought we'd be safer if one of us had had the sleep they needed."

"What exactly are you doing?" I asked, somewhat perturbed by his treatment.

"I put a bit of a salve in this about an hour ago. It should be pretty much done its work by now. Whoever made the first attempt at healing you was a complete idiot. I've just done what's practically common sense, with ridiculously limited resources, and I've done a better job than they did."

"They were ordered not to really heal me. The Emperor didn't want me to be strong enough to have the potential to take the Empire from him."

"Of course not." Luke snarled. "He doesn't have a decent bone in his body, does he?"

"No." I felt the corners of my mouth turn up.

"I've got to say, him I actually feel justified to hate. I mean, you at least have to have a reason to do horrible things, but he seems to just enjoy it. No matter what else they say about you, no one ever says that you haven't got any morals at all." He was looking across the cave we'd taken refuge in, and didn't see my expression at his words.

When I had suggested the truce with my son, I'd expected many things, perhaps stony silence for the duration of our time together, fiery arguments, or constant pleas for me to turn back from the Dark Side, but I had never expected praise for what I'd done, or my reasons for doing it.

I lay still, stunned. Finally, he refocused on me and started his gentle rubbing again.

"I'm almost done here. I've got most of the salve back out. There's just a little bit I'm having trouble with." He said at last, apparently just to break the silence.

I nodded. I could feel the effects of his medicine. Suddenly, his stomach gave a loud growl.

"Eat." I commanded.

"I will. Just let me finish with treating you, okay?"

"All right."

Again, silence fell. But this time, it wasn't the same tense, awkward silence that was the only kind we'd had so far. This time, it felt safer, making the damp, dark cave seem almost like some kind of home.

Finally, Luke leaned back against his hands, saying contentedly, "I'm done."

I smiled at him, and sat up. For the first time that morning, I looked around the cave. Firelight danced off the walls and a pot Luke had saved from his sinking fighter was already hanging over a carefully-built fire. Looking at the pot, I thought how wise my son had been to save that, of all things, from his ship. It had allowed him to make water more or less potable, and he had been able to make many things almost edible, although he had tried on several occasions to joke about it. All his attempts to be friendly had been met with silence, but he had never quite given up, though efforts had become more veiled.

"Go on, Luke. Eat." I prodded, and he moved gracefully to his feet.

"Would you like some, Father? Your suit won't be providing anything for you."

I didn't say anything, just nodded. Luke hadn't turned around yet, however, and he froze mid motion, turning back to me.

"Not that I wouldn't help you if you wanted to keep wearing it."

"Clearly you don't want me to."

"Well, no. But it's your choice. And you might want to hide your prosthetics, I guess."

Speaking of my prosthetics, I'd completely forgotten that they weren't my own limbs. I stretched each one in turn, surprised at how much the suit must have constricted movement for it to suddenly be so much easier to simply straiten my arms.

"I, uh, tweaked those a bit too." Luke admitted quietly, returning to serving each of us a bit of whatever he'd managed to make today. "It was just like the healing of the flesh, it was worse than amateur. It makes sense that they were actually trying to hinder you; it's the only logical explanation. I mean, I'm not exactly a professional, but I did better than the people tending to the second in command of the Empire. It should have seemed stranger to me at the time. If I messed anything up, I won't be offended if you tell me."

I looked at my left arm. All the errors that had bothered me for years seemed fixed, but Luke was still talking about all the mistakes he thought he might have made.

"Luke, you did very well."

He turned to me with a mug of today's concoction, and I was surprised and concerned by the surprised expression on his face and the way he blushed. It was as though he'd never received a compliment in his life.

"You really think so?"

"I'm sure of it."

He smiled widely and handed me the mug before returning to get his own.

We sat in silence to eat, Luke sitting next to me. He ate quickly and rested his head against the wall, closing his eyes.

I finished my own food more rapidly, and then drew him into my lap.

"Sleep now, Luke. I'll keep the nightmares away, I promise."

Luke nodded quietly and leaned against my chest. As he drifted off, he uttered a few words that took me a while to understand. "Your eyes are blue. Like mine."


End file.
